Suchergebnisse

The democratic Left in India is in crisis. During the first decade of this century it slid from its highest parliamentary presence to virtual irrelevance. A key to its retrieval, this book argues, lies in its ability to imagine a new popular politics for reinventing its democratic credentials beyond electoral posturing. In this respect, much can be learnt from the Left's governmental practices as they have evolved since the late 1960s, crafting a unique blend of politics, policy, idealism, practicality, vision and delivery. By looking at the problematics of government from the days of deft land reforms to messy land acquisition, this book situates 'government as practice' as a prism for critical thinking on democratic politics in postcolonial India. Grounded in empirical and archival research, the book will be useful for those who are passionate as well as sceptical about the revival potentials of a new Left in India's fast-changing political economy.

Social capital, panchayats and grassroots democracy / Sudha Pai -- Democracy and social capital in the central Himalayas / Niraja Gopal Jayal -- Social connectedness and the fragility of social capital / Bishnu N. Mohapatra -- Society and the realm of freedom / Susanne Hoeber Rudolph -- Community and its margins / Dwaipayan Bhattacharyya -- Classes for the masses? / Manabi Majumdar -- Devolution, joint forest management, and the transformation of social capital / Nandini Sundar -- Making democracy perform / Peter Mayer -- Is social capital a meaningful and measurable concept at the Indian state level? / Renata Serra -- Social capital and protest movements / Ashok Swain.

International audience ; This paper examines the operation of Kudumbashree, the Poverty Eradication Mission for Kerala (India). Kudumbashree operates through female-only Neighbourhood Groups, which aim to contribute to their participants' economic uplift, and to integrate them with the activities and institutions of local governance. As such, Kudumbashree echoes poverty alleviation programmes elsewhere in the Global South designed to link poverty alleviation to 'active citizenship'. This paper evaluates the programme, arguing that although Kudumbashree has undoubtedly been successful in supporting women's public participation, questions remain over the autonomy of the 'invited spaces' it has created, and the underlying vision of poverty alleviation it embodies.